Method of applying button and buttonhole facing strips to knit underwear



Nov. 18 1924.

J. P. WEIS METHOD OF APPLYING BUTTON AND BUTTONHOLE FACING .STRIPS T0KNIT UNDERWEAR 2 Shuts-Sheet 1 Filed April 29. 1919 Ill. llll lll 2 llaNov. 18, 1924. 1,516,256

J. P. WEIS METHOD OF APPLYING BUTTON AND BUTTONHOLE FACING STRIP S TOKNIT UNDERWEAR Filed April 29. 1919 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR.

Elm/Wham Patented Nov. 18, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN VI'EIS, OF NYACK, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO METROPOLITAN SEWING LIA-OHINE CORPORATION, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

METHOD OF APPLYING BUTTON AND BUTTONHOLE FACING STRIPS TO KNITUNDERWEAR.

Application fi led April 29, 1919.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN P. lVEis, a citizen of the United States,residing at Nyack, in the county of Rockland and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of ApplyingButton and Buttonhole Facing Strips to Knit Underwear, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to the improved method of applying button andbutton-hole facing strips to knit underwear especially union suitshaving an opening extending down the front. The present improvementpermits the stitching of the button-hole strip and button facing orstrip at one operation simultaneously with the cutting of the front slitinthe' garment to which the facing strips are applied, this resulting ineconomy of manufacture since it does away with several operationsheretofore necessary, with the added advantage of having the fronts ofthe garment of equal length. .VVhile the invention is especially usefulin the manufacture of union suits, it is not limited thereto, as it maybe used to advantage for applying the button and buttonhole strips tounder shirts, and similar garinents.

Heretofore under the method practiced in the finishing of union suits,the fronts were slit by hand using shears for the cutting operation; andas the goods were tubular, only one garment could be cut at a time. Thebutton facing was then applied by the usual stitching operation, thesewing machine used for the purpose being equipped with a hemmer forturning the edges of the garment, and a folder for folding the raw edgesof the strip, guiding it into position to receive the stitches parallelwith the edge of the front opening of the garment. Then the garmentswere: passed along to receive the button-hole facing or strip which isusually wider than the button stay or strip. This was applied by anothersewing machine equipped with attachments similar to those described inconnection with the button stay machine. But great difficulty wasexperienced in keeping both edges of the front slit of the same length,due to the fact that the operation of applying the button stay wasaccomplished by one operator operating the button stay machine, whilethe but- Serial No, 293,540.

ton-hole facing was applied by another op erator operating thebutton-hole facing machine. Union suits, made from knit tubular materialstretch easily, and it requires considerable experience and care on thepart of the operators to have the button stay and button-hole facingcome from the two sewing machines so that the two front sections of thegarment are of exactly the same length and can be properly buttoned. Toassist the operators in maintaining exact lengths to the fronts of thegarment at the time of stitching the button hole and button stay facingsthereto, various mechanical devices have been used, as a means ofmeasuring and guiding these operations. All of these howevernecessitated the comparison of each garment, that is the button stay,with the length of the button facing, as the stitching thereofprogressed, thus curtailing the production. hen it was found that oneside of the garment was coming out longer than the other the goods hadto be.

fulled in, or stretched if it were coming out too short, whichfrequently caused an unsightly finish of the most particular part of thegarment.

All of these disadvantages are avoided by my present improvement whereinall of this work is done in one operation on the same machine, themachine being fitted with four needles, two of which are spaced atsuitable distance, say of an inch apart, to stitch along the two outeredges of the button facing, another needle spaced about one-half inchfrom the right hand needle used for stitching the button stay, andanother needle about an inch and one-quarter from the third needle so asto stitch the two parallel edges of the button hole facing. Suitablefeeds and presser feet co-act with the needles and the stitch formingmechanism to feed the work through the machine. Lo cated in front of andclose to the presser foot and needles, are two edge hemmers for turningdown and under, the edges of the front slit of the garment. Directly infront of the edge hemmers and between-the two, is located a cuttingknife reciprocating up and down so as to shear against the edge of ahorizontal ledger blade, to form a shear cutting action for slitting thefront wall of the tubular knit goods forming the gar-- ment. The twoedge hemmers are adjustably secured to the top surface of a slide plate,which forms a rest for the goods directly in front of the stitching andcutting mechanism. Underneath the slide plate is adjustably secured twostrip folders, one for the button stay strip and one for the button holefacing strip, arranged so as to guide and fold the edges of each stripand deliver them to the stitching mechanism so that one edge of eachstrip will be stitched under and parallel to the hemmed or otherwisefinished edges of the front of the garment, thus producing what istermed in the trade, as a self-finish, because of the fact that thebutton stay and facing strips do not show on the outside of the garment.

I propose to also arrang the presser feet of the sewing machine to havea guiding 'c-h a'nn'el such as that formed by the side walls88 and 39-,Fig. 6, in the front upturned edge s0 as to receive strips 32, 3 3,

1 see Figs. 3 and 6, feeding down from the top of the machine, to beguided thereby so that stitches will pass through the parallel edges ofeach strip, as they are stitched to the outside of the garment. WVhensuch strips are used ll'OYVGVQl, I dispense with the use of the hemmers,for turning the edge of the garment under on each side of the fromopening, and substitute therefor edge guides 21 and 22, see Fig. 6, todivert the cut edges of the front slits from the cutting knife 26 overto and in line with the strips as they are applied thereto, or itmay bedesirable to narrow the space between the two center needles when thetop and bottom strips are being applied to each side of the garment. 1 7

From the foregoing it will be clear that I have combined in one machineand one operation, the application of the button and button-hole stripsand the slitting of the front in such a manner that not only severaloperations are eliminated but both edges of the front will always comeout the same length, and that it is merely necessary for the operator tofollow a mark on the knit goods. representing the location of the frontslit.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specificationFig. 1 shows the ai'Tangement of such sewing machine parts as arenecessary to perform the work described. This view shows the knit goodsin full lines, the facing strips in dotted lines, certain portions ofthe goods being broken away, more clearly to show thearrangement of theattachments; Fig. 2 shows a layout of a union suit with the button stayand facing strip applied thereto, partway up the front. The front slitextending part way to the neck opening, that part of the button andbutton hole strips projecting beyond the neck opening being intended toshow how such strip edges are folded. T his view illustrates what istermed as the selffinish; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing aportion of a. union suit, having the top and bottom strips applied tothe front of the garment, forming the buttonhole and button strips.Cross-cuts are made in this view to show the two walls of' the knitgoods as well as the bottom strips; Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic viewshowingthe tubular knit goods with the button strip and facing applied theretoforming the self finish, the vertical dotted line representing theneedles or stitch lines; Fig. 5 is a vi'ew similar to'Fig. 4, butshowing the four strips applied to the edges of the garment,representing the work shown in Figure 3; and Fig. 6 illustrates'amechanism adapted for use when strips are applied to both the top andbottom walls of the garment at each side of the cut.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in theseveral figures of the drawings.

The front wall of the knit goods, forniing a union suit is designated as,1 the leg portion, as .2, the neck opening as 3, and the front slit as4. The button hole strip is 5, and the button stay strip is 6 each ofthe stripshaving each edge folded over upon itself. The button strip 6,passes into the mouth 7, of the folder, 8, the edges of which are turnedas at 9, by said folder, the delivery end of which is indicated by 10,extending close to the left-hand pair of needles, 11. The button-holestrip, 5, enters the folder at 12, the edges of which are turned as at13, the delivery end of the folder is indicated by 14, delivering theedges of the strips to the right-hand needles 15. The button stay folderis secured by screws 16, to a slide plate, 17. These screws pass throughelongated slots, for lateral adjustment with respect to the needle.Screws 18 attach the button facing folder to the bottom of the slideplate, 17, in a similar manner. There is a space between-the front edgeof the slide plate and the adjacent edge of the throat plate, to permitthese two strips to feed up from underneath the plate, to the top of thethroat plate, to receive the stitches, and be carried along-by the feed,see Fig. 6, and the presser feet represented by 1-9 and 20, shown, indotted lines, Fig. l and in full lines, Fig. 6. Attached to the top ofthe slide plate are the edge hemmers, 21 and 22, 1, each of which isprovided with a shank 23 or 241, secured to the slide plate by atta'ching screws 25, and have a lateral adjustment.

Directly in front and between the edge hemmers is located the topcutting knife, 26, which projects up through the slide plate between thebutton stay and button-hole facing folders, for cutting the front slit.

This knife co-acts with a ledger blade, 27, carried by the slide plateover which the goods is fed. The operation is as follows:

The sewing machine may be a cylinder, or a post machine, having a bed ofsmall proportions, so that the garment can be drawn under the presserfeet, 19 and 20, having the leg portions of the garment indicated by 28and 29, come directly underneath the needle. The bottom or back portionof the garment hangs down in front of the machine bed, post or cylinder,and when the front of the garment feeds into the machine the operatorguides the garment so that the knife, 26, will out along a line markedon the goods indicating the front slit location; the cut edges are drawninto the hemmers 21 and 22, by the feeding of the goods so that theedges are turned down and under automatically before they reach theneedles, so that all'that is necessary for the operator to do is tofollow the line until the neck opening edge, 30, is reached. As thisedge 30 emerges from underneath the presser feet, 19 and 20, completingthe stitching operation, the ends of the strips are cut at 31,disconnecting the finished garment from the machine.

As the work is fed out from underneath the presser foot, the garmentsags: to the right and left, due to one wall of the tubular knit goodsbeing underneath or at the front of the post or cylinder, so that theedges diverge from one another, which greatly facilitates the handlingof the goods. When the neck opening is reached, completing the stitchingoperation, the garment falls from the machine, as the two stay stripsare cut off.

When the top strip-s, 32 and 33, are used, the work is handled in thesame manner, except that the necessary folders 36 and 37 and guides 38and 39, shown in the present instance as mounted on the presser feet areemployed to guide the top strips, see Fig. 6, and the edge guides 21 and22 are substituted for the hemmers 21 and 22 of Fig. 1, which. guidesare suitably secured by screws 25 to the slide plate 17 as shown in saidFig. 6.

In the diagrammatic views, Figures 4 and 5, the stitch lines of thebutton hole facing are represented by 34, while the stitch lines of thebutton stay are represented by 35.

It will be understood of course that the various details may be more orless changed without departing from the spirit or scope of the presentimprovement, for instance, as the gist of the present improvement is thesimultaneous application to both out opposed edges of a garment, such asunion suits, or overalls or similar garment, of stay strips of anydesired character or form, one or more stay strips to each such cut edgethereof, it will therefore be obvious that it is not: material as to inwhat manner the raw edges of the garment may be finished since thehemming thereof is but one Way of finishing such raw edges for theapplication of such stay strips, and in fact as shown in Figs. 3, 5 and6, where strips are sewed both at the top and bottom of the raw edges,it is not essential that the raw edges be finished at all since they arecompletely covered, nor is it essential that the covering strips shownin Figs. 3, 5 and 6, at each side of the out be of the same kind orcharacter as one might be an edging and the other a stay strip, and insome instances the raw edges of the garment might be merely finished bysuitable stitches for the application of the stay strips thereto, or inany other desired way.

It will also be understood that the present improvement is also usefulin simultaneously applying stay strips to both of the opposed previouslycut raw edges of a garment, which can be readily done without any changewhatsoever in the mechanism of the present improvement.

In short, the present improvement may be used to both out andsimultaneously apply to such out raw edges stay strips or to apply topreviously cut raw edges such stay strips and to apply such stay stripsto both top and bottom walls of both out edges or only to the bottomwall of each cut edge, and finish the opposed raw edges of the garmentin any other desired way.

I claim as my invention:

1. The method of simultaneously applying button and button hole facingstrips to a garment, which consists in cutting a slit in the garment andduring such cutting operation and simultaneously therewith folding theedges of facing strips and sewing to each cut edge a folded edge facingstrip.

2. The method of simultaneously applying button and button hole facingstrips to a garment, which consists in cutting a slit in the garment andduring such cutting operation and simultaneously therewith folding theedges of facing strips and sewing to each cut edge a folded edge facingstrip, the stitched lines of a facing strip at one side of the slitbeing further apart than the stitched lines of a facing strip at theopposite side of the slit.

3. The method of simultaneously applying button and button hole stripsto a garment, which consists in cutting a slit in such garment andduring such cutting operation and simultaneously therewith folding theopposed raw edges of such cut portion, and sewing to each a facingstrip.

4. The method of simultaneously applying button and button hole stripsto a garment, which consists in cutting aslit in such garment and duringsuch cutting operation and simultaneously therewith folding the opposedraw edges of such cut portion, and sewing to each a facing strip hav ingits raw edges folded inwardly.

5. The method of simultaneously applying button and button holefacingstrips to tubular knit underwear, which consists in cutting a slitin one wall of such underwear, and during such cutting operation andsimultaneously therewith folding the edges of facing strips and .sewingto each cut edge a. folded edge facing strip.

6. The method of simultaneously applying button and button hole facingstrips to tubular knit underwear, which consists in cutting a slit inone wall of such underwear, and during such cutting operation andsimultaneously therewith folding the edges of facing strips and sewingto each cut edge a folded edge facing strip, the stitched lines of afacing strip at one side of the slit being further apart than thestitched lines of a facing strip at the other side of the slit.

7. The method of simultaneously applying button and button hole facingstrips to tubular knit under-wear, which consists in cutting a slit inone wall of such underwear, and during such cutting operation andsimultaneously therewith folding the opposed raw edges of such cutportion and sewing to each a. facing strip.

8. The method of simultaneously applying button and button hole facingstrips to tubular knit underwear, which consists in cutting a slit inone wall of such underwear, and during such cutting operation andsimultaneously therewith folding the opposed raw edges of such cutportion and sewing toeach a facing strip having its raw edges foldedinwardly.

9. The method of simultaneously applying button and button hole facingstrips totubular knit underwear, which consists in cutting a slit in onewall of such underwear, and during such cutting operation andsimultaneously therewith folding the opposed raw edges of such cutportion and sewing to each a facing strip having its raw edges foldedinwardly, the stitched lines of one facing strip being further apartthan the stitched lines of the other facing strip.

10. The method of applying button and button hole facing strips totubular underwear, which consists in cutting a slit in one wall ofsuch'under wear, and during such cutting operation and simultaneouslytherewith folding the edges of facing strips and sewing to both outedges said folded edge facing strips.

11 The method of applying button and button hole facinglstrips totubular underwear, which consists in cutting a slit in one wall of such.underwear, and during such cutting operation and simultaneouslytherewith folding the edges of facing strips and facing strips, thestitched lines of the facing at one side of the slit being further apartthan the stitched lines of the facing at the opposite side of the slit,

12. In a sewing machine, the combination of stitching mechanism, meansfor cutting a slit in tubular knit underwear, and means located at eachside of the slit for guiding, folding and stitching a stay strip to theout portions of such underwear simultaneously with the cutting of suchslit.

13. In a sewing machine, the combination of stitching mechanism, meansfor cutting a slit in tubular knit underwear, means located at each sideof the slit for simultaneously guiding and folding astay strip to thecut portions of such underwear, and hemming means also located at eachside of the slit for hemming the raw edges of the slitted port-ion.

14. in a sewing machine, the combination of stitching mechanism, meansfor cutting a slit in tubular knit underwear, means located at each sideof the slitl for simultaneously guiding and folding a stay strip to thecut portions of such underwear, hemming means also located at each sideof the slit for hemming the raw edges of the slitted portion, and meansfor adjusting the strip guiding and foldii'ig means toward and from eachother.

15. In a. sewing machine, the combination of stitching mechanismcomprising two pair of needles, the needles of one pair being locatedfurther apart than the needles of the other pair, means for cutting aslit in tubular knit underwear, and means located at each side of suchcut portion for during the cutting operation guiding, folding andstitching a stay strip to each of the cut portions of the underwear.

16. In a sewing machine, the combination of stitching mechanismcomprising two pair of needles, the needles of one pair being locatedfurther apart than the needles of the other pair, means for cutting aslit in tubular knit underwear, means located at each side of such cutportion for during the cutting operation guiding and folding a staystrip to each ofthe out portions of the underwear, and means alsolocated at each side of the cut portion for simultaneously 'hemming theraw edges of the cut portions of the underwear.

17. In a sewing machine, the combination of stitching mechanismcomprising two pair of needles, means for cutting a slit in a garment,means for guiding a facing strip independent of such garment to each ofthe cut edges of the garment during the sewing thereof by said needlesand means for folding both longitudinal edges of each strip.

18. In a sewing machine, the combination of stitching mechanismcomprising two pair sewing to both out edges said folded edge ofneedles, means for cutting a slit in tubular knit underwear, a slideplate, a pair of edge hemmers secured to the top surface of the slideplate and effective to during the cutting operation fold the raw edgesof the cut portions of the underwear, and 'a pair of strip folderslocated at the underside of the slide plate and effective to guide andfold a strip to each cut portion of such underwear.

19. The method of simultaneously applying button and button hole facingstrips to tubular knit underwear, which consists in cutting a slit inone wall of such underwear and during such cutting operation andsimultaneously therewith hemming the raw edges of such cut portions andsimultaneously folding the longitudinal raw edges of a pair of facingstrips andstitching them to such hemmed portions of the underwear eachby two rows of stitching, each inner row stitching one folded edge of afacing strip and the hemmed edge of the garment.

20. The method of simultaneously applying facing strips to a garmenthaving a part thereof provided with opposed cut or raw edges, whichconsists in finishing the cut'opposed raw edges of such garment, andsimultaneously applying and sewing independent strips of material toboth out opposed edges of the garment.

21. The method of simultaneously applying facing strips to a tubularknit garment having a part thereof provided with opposed cut or rawedges, which consists in finishingthe cut opposed raw edges of suchgarment, and simultaneously applying and sewing independent strips ofmaterial to the bottom walls of both out opposed edges of the garment.

22. The herein described method, which consists in cutting a slit in agarment and during such cutting operation and simultaneously therewithfinishing the opposed raw out edges of such garment, and sewing a stripto each of such cut edges.

23. The herein described method, which consists in cutting a slit in agarment, and during such cutting operation and simul taneously therewithfolding the opposed edges of facing strips and sewing to each raw cutedge one 'of said strips thereby to finish each raw edge of the garment.

24. The herein described method, which consists in cutting a slit in agarment and during such cutting operation and simultaneously therewithfinishing the opposed raw cut edges of the garment, and sewing to eachthereof a facing having an edge thereof inwardly folded.

25. In a sewing machine for attaching facing strips to a garment havinga part thereof provided with opposed cut or raw edges, the con'ibinationof stitching mechanism comprising two pair of needles, and means forguiding independent facing strips independent of the garment to each ofthe opposed cut edges of thegarinent during the sewing thereof by saidneedles.

Signed at Nyack, in the County of Rockland and State of New York, this26th day of April, 1919.

JOHN P. lVEIS.

